McNugget Number

A number which can be obtained by adding together orders of McDonald's ${}^{\scriptstyle\circledRsymbol}$ Chicken McNuggets${}^{\rm TM}$ (prior to consuming any), which originally came in boxes of 6, 9, and 20. All integers are McNugget numbers except 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 10, 11, 13, 14, 16, 17, 19, 22, 23, 25, 28, 31, 34, 37, and 43. Since the Happy Meal${}^{\rm TM}$-sized nugget box (4 to a box) can now be purchased separately, the modern McNugget numbers are a linear combination of 4, 6, 9, and 20. These new-fangled numbers are much less interesting than before, with only 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, and 11 remaining as non-McNugget numbers.

The Greedy Algorithm can be used to find a McNugget expansion of a given Integer.

See also Complete Sequence, Greedy Algorithm

References

Vardi, I. Computational Recreations in Mathematica. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley, pp. 19-20 and 233-234, 1991.

Wilson, D. rec.puzzles newsgroup posting, March 20, 1990.